notes on blindness

DIRECTORS: PETER MIDDLETON AND JAMES SPINNEY

“If I didn’t understand it, it would defeat me,” says John Hull, referring to the blindness that took his sight away at the age of 45. This probing sensorial experience of a film follows the respected Australian-born academic and theologian as he grapples with his condition, forcing him to change everything about his life, from the way he teaches to the way he connects with his children. Gorgeously photographed and beautifully crafted, Notes on Blindness employs actors, who lip-sync Hull’s actual audio recordings, to provide an intimate, fascinating and sometimes frightening account of Hull’s challenges and triumphs, anguish and acceptance. From Sundance and Rotterdam 2016, Notes on Blindness has been called “immensely creative and poetic” (Cineuropa) and “elegant, evocative and deeply affecting” (Screen Daily).

Peter Middleton and James Spinney

Directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney have been working together for five years, directing fiction and documentary shorts, as well as commercial work. Their short film RAINFALL won Best Short Documentary at Hot Docs and their short NOTES ON BLINDNESS screened at Sundance and SXSW. Both shorts were precursors to this feature.